Children enjoy emulating common adult activities. Role-play toys allow children to pretend to engage in adult activities. One common adult activity often emulated by children is shopping. Many role-play toys resemble items that adults encounter when shopping. For example, non-interactive toy shopping carts and fake food items are popular toys for young children. These toys offer children open-ended, imaginative play experiences. However, the non-interactive nature of shopping role-play toys allows few opportunities for educational enrichment. Additionally, children quickly become bored with non-interactive toys.
It is desirable to improve traditional shopping toys with interactive audio and/or visual output to provide educational enrichment and a superior play experience.